Sunday, October 05, 2014

Learned a new trick

I bit the bullet and got another digital cutting machine. I absolutely love my Cameo, and especially the software program which is terrific. I use the software for more than just cutting. It is pretty much my "go to" program when I want to lay things out, get nice crisp images and text, and print from it, either on paper, fabric, or on transparencies that I use to make silkscreens.

However, I was intrigued by the Cricut Explore's ability to cut thicker materials than the Cameo can cut, so I bought one. It is a lovely machine and has many advantages, and I will use both the Cameo and the Cricut Explore. I am not thrilled with the "on-line", software that drives the Explore not enough flexibility in personally designing images, etc. Although I understand the Cricut has come a long way with this new machine.

Now for my discovery: in learning the ways of the Explore, I fell upon this video as I devoured as many tutorials as I could to learn the system:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q2FOnbya4_g

Melody showed a neat trick which I will use a whole lot. I love heat embossing and have several powders. Up til now, it has mainly been something you do with rubber/acrylic stamps and therefore is limited in size, etc. But having watched Melody's tutorial, and having bought the embossing pens she used, I proceeded to use them on "yes" some more of my deli paper. I must have made this sheet the same time I made several recent ones, same paint colors. On the others, I ran through printer to get graphic images to print on top of the painted papers. This time, I put the paper on my Explore mat, inserted the clear pen in the pen holder, changed the image from a cut to a "write" and off I went--rather the machine went! Since the embossing pen I used was clear, I couldn't easily see where the pen had drawn on the paper until I sprinkled on the mustard color embossing powder and voila, it was there nice and clear/clean. I hit it with the heating gun and the areas drawn with the embossing pen raised up from the paper. With this bit of help, I can use virtually every image on my computer to get whatever size/placement I want. I have a collection of stamps which I probably won't even use, glad I don't have too many, this is the way to go. Both the Cameo and the Explore take 12" wide media, so this is an added advantage as well. Unless you have a wide format printer, you would have had to wrap paper around a carrier sheet. How lovely to be able to use this technique to draw/sketch and then heat emboss using the capabilities of the machine. These pens did not fit into my Cameo holder, so had to use the Cricut Explore. I will post this on the forum of Cameo users to see if some of the other purchased pen holders will hold these embossing pens.